Three million doses of Moderna vaccines against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are expected to arrive in the country early next week, an official of the government’s pandemic task force said Sunday, August 1.

Secretary Vince Dizon, deputy chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, said the vaccine doses were the donations of the United States government to the Philippines.

“Merong padating na three million na Moderna sa Tuesday galing sa US. Nagpapasalamat tayo sa gobyerno ng US para doon (There are three million Moderna arriving on Tuesday from the US. We are grateful to the US government for that),” Dizon said in an interview over TeleRadyo.

The government official underscored the importance of getting vaccinated as soon as possible amid looming threat from the highly transmissible Delta variant.

“Kailangan nating magpabakuna dahil epektibo ang bakuna (We need to get vaccinated because the vaccine is effective),” said Dizon, who is also the government’s testing czar.

Likewise, Dizon stressed the need to prevent the number of people infected with the highly contagious variant from exploding to avoid the feared overcrowding of patients in hospitals.

Metro Manila will be placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) from August 6 to 20 to stem the rising number of infections and prevent the spread of the Delta variant.

“Gamitin natin itong panahon ng ECQ na mag-test, mag-isolate, at para magbakuna (Let's use this ECQ period to test, isolate, and to vaccinate),” he said.